Expressing "within (it/them)" with "qizhong"
Revision as of 08:22, 8 November 2011 by Jonathan.pope (talk | contribs)
In classical Chinese, 其 means 那个, 那, or 那些, and refers to people or things previously mentioned in the sentence. It stands to reason therefore, that 其中 (qízhōng）means "among the aforementioned" or "in the midst of", or 那里面, and denotes that something belongs to, is in or is part of a bigger group. This is a little like "of which" in English, where you can say, "I have 3 ties, of which 2 are silk".
Some examples:
- 我 有 四辆 汽车，其中 三 辆 都 是 宝马。
- 到处 都 有 孤独 的 人，我 只 是 其中 一 个。
- 人类 21 世纪 面对 许多 问题，其中 最 严重 的 是 环境 问题。
- 工作 虽然 有时 枯燥，但是 我 乐在 其中。
In the last example sentence, 乐在其中 means "to find pleasure in" or maybe "there is joy involved with". This sounds awkward in English, but 其中 is often used in this abstract way.
Sources and further reading
Books
- Integrated Chinese: Level 2 edition 1 p.353
- Boya Chinese Lower Intermediate 2 (博雅汉语准中级加速篇) p.169
- New Practical Chinese Reader 6 (新实用汉语课本6) p.29
